Raipur: A special court in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur on Wednesday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) eight-day custody of Saurabh Chandrakar, the alleged kingpin of the Rs 6,000-crore Mahadev online betting app scam.
Chandrakar, who was recently extradited from Oman, was sent to a two-day CBI transit remand on Monday as the agency wanted to bring him to Chhattisgarh for production before the trial court in the case.
He was brought to Raipur in CBI custody on a private flight on Tuesday evening, officials said.
The court sanctioned his remand to the central probe agency and permitted investigators to shift him to New Delhi for intensive interrogation.
The CBI’s custodial interrogation is set to focus squarely on untangling an intricate web of illicit hawala networks and offshore accounts linked to suspected money laundering and illegal massive betting proceeds.
Earlier in the day, the CBI took Chandrakar for a medical examination ahead of his production before the court.
Investigators aim to confront Chandrakar with seized digital ledgers, bank transactions, and witness testimonies to trace the overseas diversion of betting funds, identify shell companies, and expose the network of political and bureaucratic facilitators who allegedly protected the syndicate.
CBI probes reveal that the illicit proceeds of the Mahadev betting syndicate were funnelled through an elaborate maze of mule bank accounts, heavily layered across multiple financial tiers, and siphoned overseas via informal hawala corridors. A substantial portion of these slush funds was allegedly deployed to bankroll payoffs to public servants, securing regulatory patronage and ensuring the racket could operate with impunity.
